December 30, 2012

We had a great Christmas week. For the first time, we were
able to celebrate the holidays with both sides of Katie’s family and we were so
grateful about it.

Katie’s family from Utah came down to see us on Saturday
morning and we got to spend the entire weekend with them. As in the usual Jones
tradition, we went to play Mini-golf, ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory, played
games and argued a whole lot. We also drove around to see Christmas lights,
which might just be my favorite Christmas tradition ever.

My heart felt so full and happy to be with family when my
own is so far away. I spoke with my family in Germany on Christmas Eve, when
they were all gathered at my grandma’s house and it made me totally tear up
when I heard all of them in the background yelling that they miss me and that
they send me hugs. I miss my crazy family, especially during the holidays.

Christmas morning we opened presents and Katie’s dad made us
breakfast. We hung out, relaxed and napped for the rest of the day before
having dinner. Katie’s grandparents weren’t able to come this year and we
missed them.

December 13, 2012

You probably know by now that I'm crazy about the holidays and I've been enjoying every minute of it. I realized today that it's less than two weeks until Christmas and I wish I could leave my decorations up until February. You know what? Maybe I will. :)

I didn't realize how many Christmas decorations we bought at Goodwill over the last year until I opened all of the boxes in my garage...just to realize that our house is way too small to host them all.

The first stop was in Haiti. We went off the boat to go on the island and two minutes later we got caught in the biggest rain storm I have ever experienced. Which didn't stop us of course. It was pretty warm and humid and we got soaked. I only have one picture from the island where the rain stopped just long enough for me to whip out my camera, but it was so humid that my lens totally fogged up, as you can see here:Der erste Halt war in Haiti. Wir verliessen das Boot um auf die Insel zu gehen und zwei Minuten später gerieten wir in der größten Regensturm, den ich je erlebt habe. Was uns natuerlich nicht an unserem Ausflug hinderte. Es war ziemlich warm und die Luftfeuchtigkeit war hoch und wir wurden so richtig nass. Ich habe nur ein Bild von der Insel, als der Regen einmal lange genug aufhoerte um meine Kamera auszupacken, aber es war so feucht, dass mein Objektiv völlig beschlag, wie ihr hier sehen koennt:

After the tour, Katie and I went parasailing. My favorite story about the trip is where we were just lifted into the air and Katie gets nauseous and throws up from above, all over herself. We had to stay up for another 15 minutes before they lowered us again...but to Katie's defense, the girl who did it afterwards threw up too. She said that she's still glad we went though.